recurrence
by naggingGargoyle
Summary: Amethyst bumps into Vidalia. Repeatedly. By accident! Definitely by accident.


**Warning** for very mild body horror.

* * *

The first time really was a coincidence, honestly. Because you wanted to practice your extremely fun and practical and just _slightly_ uncontrollable wrecking ball roll, and you didn't want to wreck any important things or, like, people. So you went to the huge out of town junkyard that smells a lot like your room, but a bit earthier, maybe, where you could wreck shit for hours with no one around and also maybe find some of the more interesting junk to bring home.

You're walking around, trying to map out some good paths to make a lot of mess, when you see a human sitting on the ground. A human in really comfortable clothes and very big hair.

"Hey, V," you call, and her head snaps up, she puts her sketchpad down, jumps to her feet, and is in your arms within the second.

"Amethyst," she says, and the breath of the words makes the skin of your neck prickle. "Fancy seeing you here."

You let her go with a nervous laugh. "Sooo, what are you doing in a junkyard?"

Vidalia waves her charcoal smeared fingers at you, smiling like she could bite off someone's arm, and you feel like disintegrating on the spot. "Sketching junk," she says.

You make a face. " _This_ junk?" You kick a rusty can, and it doesn't even explode or try to scuttle away or anything. "I've god better junk in my secret stash in _Pearl's_ room."

Vidalia shrugs, loose and unconcerned. "I like it here," she says. "You never know what you'll find. A shoe stuck in a TV or just the back half of a car or some gorgeous purple alien you used to roll around with."

You try to ignore the heat rising in your face. "Ha, well, I really did come here to roll around for a bit."

"Looks like it works out well for both of us, then," she says and sits back down, picking up her sketchpad, and goes back to drawing.

So you shrug, and start wrecking things.

Later, when you're sick of rolling and just a _little_ worn out, you glance over Vidalia's shoulder, and even though they're black and white, all her sketches are of the crushed and scattered piles you barreled through, and you kinda feel like they're still somehow about you.

.

One very boring day when Garnet's off to do something important or other and Pearl's in her room in one of her periodic brooding sessions, you pop into the main house to find Steven reading a _how to make cats like you_ guide upside down on the couch. "Hey Steven, wanna go on a trip?"

"Do I!" says Steven, scrambling upright and bumping their forehead on the coffee table. They frown as they rub their head. "Um, do I? It's not a – Kindergarten kinda trip, right?"

You laugh. "Nah, just to the art supply shop. To get… art supplies."

"Hmm." Steven carefully places a flower in the book to mark their place and hops off the couch. "I didn't know you liked art supplies. Is it to eat them, or… wait, is it a present for Onion's mom?"

" _What!_ " you yelp. "No it isn't! Who told you that? I'm not giving presents to anyone's mom. Forget it, it's a stupid idea." You quickly turn back, your door already opening its fleshy jaws.

Steven rushes after you, their flip flops smacking noisily. "Wait, no no no no, I like art supplies!" they protest. "And trips to shops, and definitely not giving presents to people's moms." You turn to look at them. They've already whipped the cheeseburger backpack out of nowhere. "I'll get my art supply spending money and let's go!"

So you go. It's about a fifteen minute drive, so you take Lion, who's in a cooperative mood. You turn your vocal cords big cat and roar at him a little, but Lion stays quiet. He's not that much fun, for a lion.

At the store you pick up all the things that look the tastiest, because honestly Steven wasn't that far off, and then you have to put most of it back on the shelves because Steven's only brought two worthless pieces of cotton and five worthless pieces of copper. Seems a bit shortsighted, but, well.

You're at the register, putting your stuff in a plastic bag while Steven takes care of the money math stuff, when you hear your name called and turn to see a lot of hair and Vidalia in yoga pants and a blazer.

"Vidalia! What – what would _you_ be doing here in this art supply shop?"

"I… am buying art supplies," Vidalia says solemnly. "For my art."

"Ha, what a coincidence! I'm also buying art supplies for your art!" you blurt out, and then you want to smack yourself, and then you do smack yourself, because you do what you want.

"Happy you're-getting-a-gift day," you mumble in a rush, and shove the plastic bag in Vidalia's hands, and grab Steven by the backpack, and run the fuck away.

.

You take the opportunity, when you're in the neighborhood, to drop by for a very casual visit. Except you couldn't really remember where exactly Vidalia's place was, so you went for a very casual search around the entire town. Since you were already in the neighborhood.

You eventually find Vidalia in her garage, working on a piece that isn't you, but still looks pretty good, considering. You bang on the garage door and it makes a very satisfying echoing sound. Vidalia looks up, and beams, and waves you over.

You saunter inside. "Oh, hey, I didn't expect to see you in your garage where you work next to your house where you live."

"I didn't expect to see you in my garage where I work next to my house where I live, either," she tells you, and winks. "But I'm glad that I am."

"What's that?" you ask her, pointing at the painting. "Not enough purple, if you ask me."

"Oh," she says, and sounds a bit hesitant. "That's Yellowtail's favorite hat."

"Huh," you say. "Sounds boring."

She smiles at you, and you're so nervous you're physically vibrating, and this is such bullshit. You plop down to the ground and pull your knees in close.

" _Urggh_ ," you groan, squeezing your shins. "I used to know you so well, and now I don't, and that _sucks_."

Vidalia sits down next to you, as loose and open as you're folded up, and you wanna kick her and see her not budge. "Yeah," she says. "I miss knowing you, too." Her rolled up jeans are riding up her ankles and you can see that there are little bears on her socks. "But you know, you're just as fun as you used to be."

"Yeah!" you agree. "And you're kinda even cooler!"

She laughs. "Your hair looks great like that."

You throw it around a little. "Yours looks like a big fluffy onion. I love it."

"Living up to my name. How's your piles of garbage doing?"

"Growing bigger by the second," you brag. "They've kinda been multiplying by themselves recently. Really freaks Pearl out, but deep down she's probably jealous. All she's got in her room is a bunch of little swords."

Vidalia leans into you, your shoulders bumping. "I missed you like a limb," she says, low and serious. "Not an essential limb or anything," she qualifies, smirking at you. "More like an extra limb that makes you coffee, scratches the spot on your back you can't reach."

You feel your smile getting huge. "Gross, V." You do kick her now. She doesn't budge at all. "You missed me scratching your back?"

"Hmm, among other things," she replies easily. "It's good to have you back, Amethyst."

You look at her, and she's smiling, and your faces are close enough to count the creases in her skin or the hairs in her eyebrow, and for a moment your entire body reverberates with longing. Then you headbutt her hard and roll away laughing, and she rubs her forehead and laughs with you.

"So, uh, yeah. Wanna go see my garbage?" you offer, coughing a little.

Vidalia pushes herself up to her feet."Thought you'd never ask," she says. "Mind if I bring my boy and my art stuff?"

You broaden your shoulders and flex your newly inflated triceps. "Load 'em up."

.

"Hey Steven," you call as you enter the house and unload Onion from his perch on your shoulders. "Watchu up to?"

"Making a macaroni and cheetos sandwich," Steven's voice replies from behind the kitchen counter. "It's cheesy _and_ crunchy."

"Cool, cool. Me and Onion's mom are going up to my room. Have fun with Onion, okay?"

Steven turns around and spots Onion and Vidalia. "Oh," Steven says, frowning, looking kind of distressed, which makes you want to make fun of they a lot. "Hi, Onion."

Onion stamps his foot and gives a military salute. Steven looks like they might cry.

You suppress a snigger, because you're a good mom. "If you have any leftovers dump 'em in my bin, yeah?"

"I would never neglect the Amethyst bin," Steven says solemnly, their attention back on you and the sandwich. "The earth worms and the green mold would be so disappointed."

"Exactly!" You throw your hands up in agreement and lead Vidalia through the organic door to your room, feeling giddy and extremely proud of yourself.

You give her the tour – or the portion of it that wouldn't be _too_ life-threatening, anyway. She picks her favorite section of garbage and spends the rest of the time painting your terrifying mountains of trash. You spend it watching her paint, not really terrifying at all, but somehow equally overwhelming.

.

After an extremely tedious and fruitless mission, on which you got to whack less than two things (you got to whack _one_ thing) you go for a walk on the wharf, as you _so_ frequently and voluntarily do, totally devoid of any expectations or additional motivation.

But you only find Onion there.

"Hey, kid. How's your life?"

He makes one of his meaningful faces, which you can't begin to decipher. Then he blows a raspberry.

"That I can get behind," you tell him with a happy snort, and he nods and turns back to stare silently at the ocean. You give it a try, but it is extremely uninteresting.

"Man, Onion, your mom's the best, you know?" you say after a while, kicking your feet. "She's so cool and funny and cute. She has those really comfy slippers too. You're lucky you get to be around her like all the time."

Onion gives you a skeptical look. You nod. "Yeah, okay, you got a point. Personally, I think your mom is great, though. Anyway, wanna see me shapeshift into a half-snake half-tiger half-gorilla abomination?"

Onion nods forcefully, and you feel your smirk stretching pleasantly with your transformation.

"That's too many halves," says Vidalia, who has appeared suddenly behind Onion, and is proceeding to mess up his ridiculous perfect little puff of hair.

"Whatever," you try to say through your enormous unwieldy snake-tiger-gorilla teeth, but it sounds more like you're gurgling mouthwash. Which is something you would never, ever do to yourself, god. You settle for rolling your seven eyes instead. Onion looks like his weird ass version of thrilled, and you remind yourself to tell Steven about it later so they can bond over their shared love of awesome hideous monsters.

It'd be nice if he and Onion hung out together more. Purely for Steven reasons, obviously. It's good for kids to have a bunch of friends, probably. Yeah, it'd be good for Steven, which is why they should hang out, and no other reason.

Onion starts tugging on your big monster ear, and you try to grimace effectively without your million terrifying teeth puncturing a million terrifying holes in your lips. And then Vidalia slides her hand through your sleek monster fur and clasps her fingers over your scaly monster paw, and you think you're maybe kinda not really grimacing anymore, so much.


End file.
